Personalising Your Cancer Care

A Holistic Needs Assessment (HNA) ensures that people’s physical, practical, emotional, spiritual and social needs are met in a timely and appropriate way, and that resources are targeted to those who need them most. An HNA is a simple questionnaire that is completed by a person affected by cancer, with their Cancer Nurse Specialist, Cancer Care Coordinator or Macmillan Support Worker. It allows them to highlight the most important issues to them at that time, and this can inform the development of a care and support plan. The questionnaire can be completed on paper or electronically.

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The PAM® is a tool that measures people’s knowledge, skills and confidence (referred to as ‘patient activation’) in managing their own wellbeing. It is expected that by understanding a patient’s activation level, care can be planned appropriately with the individual, leading to improved wellbeing and fewer episodes of unplanned and emergency care.

The PAM® is a questionnaire comprising 13 questions. The responses match the respondents to one of four levels of ‘activation’, each of which reveals insight into a range of health-related characteristics, including behaviours and outcomes.

The PAM® is used in conjunction with care and support planning and a range of interventions to support self care.

Patient Activation Measure Leaflet 

Activation Levels

A Treatment Summary is a letter/ template produced by the specialist doctor or nurse within the hospital setting out-lining the end of a course of cancer treatment or management. The aim of this letter/template is to provide high quality communication between your hospital team and your GP. The letter/template should contain details of any treatment you have received, but also other useful information about alert symptoms that may require referral back to your specialist team, as well as describing possible consequences of treatment, any ongoing management plan as well as any required GP actions to help support you back home. Copies of the completed treatment summary will be sent to you and your GP.

A Cancer Care Review (CCR) is a conversation that takes place between you and your GP or practice nurse. The conversation is aimed at addressing your holistic needs, as well as the clinical following a diagnosis of Cancer. It offers the opportunity for you to talk about your cancer treatment and any side effects of it, along with an opportunity for a medication review and advice to be given about prescription entitlement. The CCR offers a place and time to address your needs that are most important to you and those of your carer if you have one. You can be signposted or referred to other services, for example physical activity opportunities that can help to support your health and wellbeing within your local community as well as Macmillan. 

Pelvic Late Effects Service

(Pelvic Treatments include: Bladder, Prostate, Rectum, Anal Canal, Cervix, Uterus, Ovary, Vagina, Vulva)

The Lincoln Pelvic Late Effects Service is dedicated to helping people who are 6 months or more post treatment, to manage and live well with the late effects from radiotherapy.

Most people who receive radiotherapy will experience some side effects from their treatment. These are called early or acute side effects and can continue for some weeks or months after treatment, but should settle in time.

However, for some there may be ongoing physical and/or emotional challenges that they may experience daily. These could be bladder or bowel issues, fatigue, low mood or pain for example. These are the late side effects from radiotherapy and they can develop many months or sometimes years after treatment has finished. These are likely to be permanent changes.

There is no way to predict who may be affected and if they do occur, it does not mean that your treatment team did anything wrong. The late effects are due to changes to the normal tissues, which could not be avoided.

Radiotherapy is excellent at getting rid of cancer cells. However, over time the tissues in the treatment area, which have also been exposed to the radiotherapy, can become damaged. This is due to something called Radiation Induced Fibrosis.Radiation Induced Fibrosis is a build-up of fibrotic tissue, like scar tissue, that makes tissues hard and less stretchy. Depending where in the body this happens means late effects can be different from person to person, but only the area treated will be affected.

There can be other ongoing changes to how you may think and feel after treatment too. Physical and mental wellbeing are very important to feeling your best.

Please remember that many people will leave cancer behind and continue on with their life. But if you are experiencing any physical and / or emotional challenges and feel you may have late effects from treatment.  There is support available to you.

The Lincoln Pelvic Late Effects Service is a self-referral service.

To refer yourself or someone you care for to the service please contact:

Jane Hall,  Advanced Practitioner for Late Effects– Service Lead

07840841945

Lincolnshire's cancer care teams continue providing support after treatment through its Next Steps Clinics. These assist patients transitioning from active treatment to post-treatment life. These clinics provide a Holistic Needs Assessment to identify physical, emotional, and practical needs, forming the basis of a personalised Care Plan. Patients are encouraged to discuss any concerns during their clinic visit, ensuring that the support provided aligns with their individual circumstances. This initiative is part of a broader strategy to enhance cancer care in Lincolnshire, aiming to improve the quality of life for cancer survivors.

If you wish to find out your eligibility for a Next Steps Appointment, please speak with your Cancer Team.